tain in their places of business, accessible to their
customers, the government price of each kind of coal and
coke handled, the maximum gross margin allowed, the retail
price at the yard, and the drayage and delivery charges.
This enabled consumers to analyze prices. The order which
was effective April first was superseded June 25, 1918, by a
state wide order dated June 22, 1918. The later order
materially increased the margins and permitted the retail
dealers to add the cost of unloading from the cars to the
cost of the coal to them. The April first order was too
close to permit a reasonable profit to the retail dealers.
The order of June 25 was liberal. In the meantime, between
these dates, the cost of handling the coal and carrying on
the retail coal business had very materially increased.
December 27, 1918, an order was made, which took effect
January 1, 1919, reducing the margins on yard screened coal
ten cents per ton and establishing a maximum average
unloading charge of twenty-five cents per ton.
The retail coal dealers in Omaha and
Lincoln claimed,that they should have higher prices and
margins than the dealers in the smaller towns, because their
expenses were greater. The dealers in the small towns urged
that they should be allowed greater margins than the dealers
in the large cities, because they transacted so little
business, and had to maintain their coal yards and
equipment. My opinion was that the entire state should be on
the same basis. In the cities the greater volume offset the
increased expense. In the small towns the business was light
and the expense in proportion.
The state wide margins were equitable and
fair to all retail coal dealers in the state and gave
general satisfaction.
The orders of the administration were
generally complied with throughout the state. There were few
instances of overcharging, and these were due largely to
loose business methods.
The margins and prices established and
maintained in Nebraska related to the retail coal business.
The commissions allowed to wholesale dealers and jobbers
were provided for by direct orders of Dr. Garfield.
Where instances of overcharging were
brought to the attention of the administration, coal dealers
were required to make refunds to their customers; or they
were obliged to turn over the amount of their overcharges to
the American Red Cross.

Conservation

The "lightless nights" orders of Dr.
Garfield were enforced in Nebraska; and requests by the
state administrator for the late opening and early closing
of stores and places of business were generally complied
with.
After careful investigation through the
several county committees, I prepared a conservation order
covering the late opening and early closing of stores for
the winter of 1918-19. The signing of the armistice obviated
the necessity for putting it into effect.
The campaign for the conservation of fuel
had considerable effect in Nebraska. It is estimated that
during the administration period 360,000 tons of domestic
coal and 160,000 tons of steam coal were saved in the state.
The steam coal estimate includes 792 tons saved in Omaha by
the Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Company
through the adoption of the skip-stop system, and 2,337 tons
by the interconnection of the Central Light & Power
Stations in Grand Island and Fremont.
These figures represent an average saving
of 8 1-3 per cent on the estimated normal consumption of
6,000,000 tons during administration control. The saving on
steam coal is figured at 5 per cent, on account of the poor
quality of coal used, and the saving on domestic coal is
figured at 11 2-3 per cent. In drawing the line between
domestic consumption and stationary steam plants, a half of
the total consumption is allotted to each.
There would have been a further increase
in the saving of coal if consumers had been able to get the
kind and quality previously used. Under zone restrictions
they were obliged to use coal of inferior quality, with
reduced heating capacity.

Summer Storage.

During the summer of 1918, at the
request of the administration retail dealers and consumers
purchased large stocks of coal at summer prices. Several
fires resulted from the storing of lignite, and much of the
coal slacked in the bins. The mild weather and the signing
of the armistice lessened the demand, and the coal dealers
were left with large stocks on hand, which they had
difficulty in disposing of to advantage, in competition with
Illinois and other eastern coal which later was obtainable
in Nebraska.

Retail Coal Dealers Registered.

A registration system for retail coal
dealers was adopted in Nebraska. Upon application filed with
the local committees, certificates of registration were
issued. When the flat was complete it was arranged
alphabetically and numbered consecutively. It was then
printed in pamphlet form, the address following the names.
There were 1,392 dealers registered, each of whom received a
copy of the pamphlet. Copies were also furnished the
committeemen, wholesale dealers, distributing
representatives, mine operators and others interested.

Cooperation.

The fuel administration had in Nebraska
the complete and cordial cooperation of the governor, the
state council of defense, the food administration,
commercial and industrial associations, and patriotic
organizations throughout the state. The wholesale coal
dealers and jobbers rendered invaluable service. Almost
without exception, the retail dealers handled their business
as directed by the administration, with the utmost good will
and with excellent results.
The state fuel administrators of the
western states, particularly Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska,
had several meetings during 1918, usually at Kansas City,
and discussed fully and freely important questions
pertaining to administration affairs. These meetings were
helpful and, while many of the resolutions adopted and
recommendations made to Washington were without result, the
exchange of views contributed to a better understanding of
the problems involved.

Expenses.

The vouchers submitted to Washington for the expenses of
the

fuel administration in Nebraska, from October 17, 1917,
to March 27, 1919, aggregated less than $7,000. The office
furniture and equipment purchased for the use of the
administration brought at auction more than the original
cost. Economy was practiced in every branch of the fuel
administration service in the state. My check for $1, in
compensation for my services, is dated December 20, 1918. It
will never be presented for payment.

Expression of Appreciation.

In closing this brief summary of the
work of the federal fuel administration in Nebraska, please
permit me to express my profound appreciation of the cordial
cooperation on the part of the people of the state. The
committees in the several counties were loyal and efficient,
and their work should be gratefully acknowledged. In
connection with the reduction of expenses at light and power
plants, I wish particularly to mention the services of Prof.
E. J. McCaustland, dean of engineering at the University of
Missouri, who made several trips to Nebraska.
I would be lacking in loyalty if I failed
to pay a tribute of respect to Dr. Garfield. His high
character and integrity cannot be questioned. As United
States fuel administrator he was capable, courageous and
consistent. He is a splendid type of sturdy American
citienship [sic].

Three Military Heroes of
Nebraska
(Continued from Page Three.)

tonment Missouri, soon afterward named Fort Atkinson, "to
discover a route, across country," between that post and
Fort Snelling, which was established about a month before
Fort Atkinson was started. The expedition proper comprised
Captain Matthew J. Magee and First Lieutenant Charles
Pentland of the Rifle Regiment, Second Lieutenant Andrew
Talcott, of the Engineers, fifteen soldiers, presumably of
the Rifles, four servants, and an Indian guide with his wife
and papoose. It was under command of Captain Magee assisted
by Lieutenant Talcott. Lieutenant Colonel Willoughby Morgan,
of the Rifle Regiment, and Captain Kearny, of the Second
Infantry, accompanied the expedition but were not an
official part of it. Probably because Captain Kearny kept a
journal of the expedition, it has often been said that he
led it. The journey required twenty-four days - from the 2nd
of July to the 25th, inclusive. Captain Kearny wrote that
the officers of Fort Snelling
"were a little astonished at the sight of
us, we having been the First Whites that ever crossed at
such a distance from the Missouri to the Mississippi river.
The object of the exploring party which I have accompanied
from the C. B. being to discover a practicable route for
traveling between that Post & this (on the St. Peters),
the one we had come is not, in the least; adapted for that
purpose. Our circuitous & wavering route is to be
attributed to the Guide's advice, being in direct
contradiction to our opinion, & we being occasionally
guided by the one then by the other.".
But the fact that the route approximately
paralleled the subsequent lines of railroads from Omaha to
St. Paul,' at no great distance from them, and that the
captain pronounced the region through which it ran as
incapable "of supporting more than a thinly scattered
population," impeaches his judgment, putting him in the same
class with Major Long, who proved himself a false prophet in
the same way and year.
All of the officers accompanying the
expedition were garrisoned at Cantonment Missouri. General
Atkinson, who was colonel of the Sixth Regiment Infantry and
also commander of the Ninth Military Department, arrived
from St. Louis, his headquarters, and assumed command of the
troops at the post on June 15th, 1820, and also established
there, temporarily, the headquarters of his department. The
fact that Captain Kearny was acting assistant adjutant
general of this department, accounts for his presence at
Cantonment Missouri when the expedition to Fort Snelling
started.
One historian erroneously includes Captain
Kearny as an official member of the party, presumably
because he could not otherwise account for his presence at
the starting place. Another accounts for his presence there
by guessing that, "Probably he accompanied the Sixth,
Infantry, under Colonel Atkinson, when that regiment went
west to form part of the Yellowstone Expedition, for in
1820, when he began his journal, he was at Council Bluff,
when a camp had been established by that command in the
spring of that year."
Stephen W. Kearny became lieutenant
colonel of the First Dragoons in 1833 and colonel in 1836.
In 1838 he recommended Table Creek, now Nebraska City, as
the site for the post which was established in 1846 and
named Fort Kearny; in 1845 he led the first military
expedition via the Oregon Trail, through the territory
afterward named Nebraska, to the Rocky Mountains. His
command on this expedition comprised five companies of the
First U. S. Dragoons. First Lieutenant Philip Kearny, of the
same regiment, accompanied the expedition. Stephen W. Kearny
was awarded the rank of brevet major general of the regular
U. S. army, for his service in the Mexican war -nominally
not as high an honor as the full major-generalship of
volunteers, bestowed upon the nephew; but it meant more.
An unfortunate partiality - unintelligent
rather than perverse - for the letter e has done great
injustice to the three military heroes whose careers are
sketched above. The town of Casper was so named in honor of
Lieutenant Caspar; the county and city of Kearney, in
Nebraska, were named in honor of General Stephen W. Kearny.
These names were given to the municipalities as
commemorative successors to those of the abandoned forts.
The name of the Wyoming post is commonly alike misspelled,
but that does not matter much, for the fame of General Phil
Kearny was not closely identified with the Nebraska country.
It is quite practicable to cut out the intruding a from the
second syllable of Kearney and to restore the rightful a in
place of the wrongful e in the second syllable of Caspar. It
is obviously a corrollary, then, that the misnomers should
be righted.

ALBERT WATKINS.

6

Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer
Days

Judge Samuel H.
Sedgwick

Samuel H. Sedgwick, associate justice
of the supreme court of Nebraska, died at his residence in
Lincoln, on Christmas day, 1919. Of his immediate relatives,
his wife, two daughters, and a brother, the well known
Timothy E., of York, survive him.
Judge Sedgwick was born at Bloomingdale,
Dupage county, Ill., March 12, 1848, received the degree of
bachelor of arts from Wheaton College (Ill.) in 1872 and A.
M. in 1874; studied law at the University of Michigan,
1871-72; was married to Clara M. Jones, of Rockford, Ill.,
September 25, 1878; practiced law in Kewaunee, Wis., 1874-78
and at York, Neb., from 1878; in 1895, elected judge of the
fifth judicial district of Nebraska, which comprised the
counties of Butler, Hamilton, Polk, Seward, Saunders and
York; defeated at the election for the same office in 1899,
by a candidate upon the fusion ticket; appointed a
commissioner of the state supreme court, April 9, 1901, but
resigned January 7, 1902, to become judge of the supreme
court, having been chosen at the election of 1901; defeated
as a candidate for the same office by Manoah B. Reese at the
primary election of 1907; one of the three judges of the
supreme court elected in 1909 by virtue of the amendment to
the constitution adopted in 1908, which increased the number
of judges from five to seven and on the nonpartisan ticket
prescribed by a statute enacted the same year, and was again
elected in 1916. He had served two years of this term when
he died.
In politics, Judge Sedgwick was a
Republican, of the conservative type, but in his latter
years he become somewhat progressively liberal. His chief
merit as a judge lay in faithful industry, a fairly poised
judicial temperament, an attitude more than ordinarily
independent, and unquestioned integrity. In his social
relations he was very kindly and affable. He possessed and
cultivated a religious temperament, his beliefs leaning,
distinctively or uncommonly, somewhat toward orthodoxy. He
had been a member of the Congregational church at York for
about forty years. His example was wholesome and his career
useful.

I regret that Burt county has not been
more active in this Historical Society work, for no county
in Nebraska contains more data, of the early history of the
state than Burt. From the burials on the adjacent hills, I
am led to believe that Tekamah must have been an Indian camp
for centuries. I have been a resident in the county for over
fifty years, and I have witnessed its development from a
hunting ground of the Indian to one of the best agricultural
counties in the world. I was secretary of the Burt County
Agricultural Society when, in 1891, 1892 and 1893 it won
first prize on county collective exhibits at the state fair,
competition being open to the world. The last year it had to
compete against the state of Kansas, whose exhibit was under
the auspices of the state board of agriculture, but still
Burt won over all, and was awarded the gold medal, which
barred it for a term

of years from competition. At the close of the state fair
that year, the state board insisted that I should send a
carload of our best products to the world fair at Chicago.
The exhibit was made at our county's expense, and it was
awarded more medals on farm products than were won by any
state in the Union. At the Trans-Mississippi and
International Exposition, Burt county maintained a booth
alongside the exhibit of Douglas county and advertised
itself as the gold medal county of Nebraska, after which it
retired to enjoy the honors won.
After the armistice was signed the active
workers began to recount what Burt did toward winning the
world war. A demand was generally expressed that someone
should be induced to compile the story in book form, and I
was chosen for it. I had never seen anything of this kind,
but in consultation with a delegation who waited on me to
urge me to assume the responsibility of compiling the
record, I proposed that if I could have their cordial
cooperation I would endeavor to make a book that would
contain photographs of all soldiers from the county, all the
service records, and also authentic reports of all home
activities with photographs of the officers of each
organization, at a cost of $7.50 per book. The photographs
of the soldiers were to go in free, without any obligation
on their part to me to purchase a book. Every photograph
relating to the home activities was to be accompanied with
an order. I proposed to sell or contract for the sale of
books in advance of publication and to print only the number
of books that I had orders for when they were ready for the
press. My estimate was made on the basis of the sale of
1,000 books. I calculated that each picture would sell a
book, that Burt county had over 800 men in the service and
that I could sell at least 200 to other patriotic citizens.
I assured the delegation that the quality of the books would
be as good as labor and material could produce. I agreed
that I would obtain a guaranty by a bank that money I should
receive for any book, and give a receipt for in advance,
would be refunded if the book should not be delivered. The
order for payment on delivery was in note form, "promise to
pay for value received on demand." That made it bankable
paper. I also assured the delegation that my object was to
make it a county affair, free from personal or sectional
bias, with no partiality for friends or foes. My outline was
endorsed by the delegation, and they gave me good
support.
I began by procuring the list from the
county selective draft board, and I arranged the names by
towns, of which we have five in the county, namely: Craig,
Decatur, Lyons, Oakland and Tekamah. I carried that
distinction all the way through the book, giving each town
due credit for all war work. I then started a campaign to
obtain the names of all volunteers and credited them to
their respective towns.
Being a newspaper man, I had much faith in
the efficiency of advertising, so I bought liberal space in
every paper of the county and I had heart to heart talks
with the people for two months, in which I outlined my plan
and object. At that time I intended to put a man in the
field to make a house-to-house canvass, to secure the
photographs and service records and take orders for books at
the same time. At this juncture, Mrs. E. C. Houston,
chairman of the Burt county chapter of the American Red
Cross, informed me that the members thought it would be a
fine thing to present each soldier with a book. She said
that she had called a special meeting of the Tekamah chapter
to consider the matter, and she wanted to know what
reduction I would make in price it they should buy three
hundred books and pay for them in advance. Each branch, Mrs.
Houston informed me, had a local fund that could be used for
any purpose, that these were not Red Cross funds, but they
had been raised to assist in other drives and had never been
reported to state headquarters. At the special meeting the
plan was approved, my reduction in price was very
satisfactory, and they bought three hundred books. Mrs.
Houston informed the other branch chapters of the action
taken at Tekamah, and within a week Craig, Decatur, and
Lyons bought books for all their soldiers. These purchases
disarranged my plans of a house-to-house canvass. I then
devoted my efforts to obtaining photographs of the soldiers
and sailors and the data from all home activities. I devised
a plan of filing and checking that kept in a separate large
envelope each photograph with data, or anything pertaining
to each individual. 1 used those envelopes until the
photographs came back from the engraver and were returned to
the owner with the copy of the data sent to the printer. It
was an immense task to handle a thousand pictures, but the
system worked out without an error.
In assembling the data of all war funds
contributed in Burt county, I was astonished at their
magnitude. They aggregated three and a half million dollars,
for a county of only a little over 12,000 population by the
last census, an average of over $269 for every man, woman
and child in the county.
The liberty bonds purchased amounted to
$2,819,550, $216 per capita. The war savings stamps
purchased up to May 1st, 1919, amounted to $366,235, an
average of $28 per capita. The total contributions to the
Red Cross aggregated $150,000, or $11.50 per capita for
every man, woman and child in the county.
Burt county also won the prize offered by
State Chairman Frank W. Judson (a silk Red Cross flag) for
being the banner county in Nebraska in Red Cross membership
in proportion to population, and Nebraska led the nation. In
the united war work and all other drives for funds, Burt
went over the top in every instance. So you see that the
people of Burt county were justified in being desirous of
having their wonderful record of patriotism put in book form
for preservation.
After the data had been compiled and the
proofs of all the cuts had been returned from the engraver,
I was confronted with my most perplexing task, the
arrangement of the materials in the book. It was up to me to
paste all the pictures in a dummy form and mark the pages
for copy to correspond. I began by giving the post of honor
to the memorial section of twenty-four boys who gave their
all to the service of their country; next came the Red Cross
nurses, soldiers,

Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days

7

and sailors in panel groups of twenty to a page, with
service record opposite; then reports and pictures of six
Red Cross chapters, the champion knitters, Red Cross
auctioneers, county council of defense, selective service
board, county liberty loan report in detail, women's liberty
loan report, war savings stamps, united war work drive,
Armenian and Syrian relief work, food conservation, fuel
conservation, legal committee report, Burt county press, the
four minute men from the five towns, home guards companies
from each town with full roster of each. The Burt county
schools were an important factor in all home activities.
They were the avenue of publicity and distribution in all
drives; so I incorporated the names of all school officers
and the number of the several districts. The closing section
consists at page panels of war scenes in France, made from
photographs brought home by the soldiers, which is
interesting to many of them who saw service over there.
Before closing I call attention to the
proud record made by our home state. I am informed that, in
proportion to population, Nebraska sent more soldiers into
the army than any state in the union. The aggregate was
49,614 according to a report at the provost marshal general,
without counting the medical corps or Red Cross enlistments.
Nebraska's war drives totaled $264,760,000, thirty-four
million more than the quota assigned to the state, and an
average of $220 per capita, based on the last census.
Nebraska held first place on food conservation cards, and
Burt county was one of the first counties to adopt the
system. Nebraska was first in all war activity drives, and
first in Red Cross membership in proportion to population.
During the Red Cross drive in 1918, Nebraska's quota was
$800,000. It gave $2,300,000, 260 per cent above the quota.
No wonder that I am proud of being a resident of the banner
county, in the banner state. I am thankful that it was my
privilege in years gone by to assist in putting Burt on the
map as one of the best agricultural counties in the world. I
am gratified now over the fact that it was my lot to compile
in book form Burt county's splendid record of patriotism in
the world war.

NOTES

In the report of the Nebraska State
Board of Agriculture for 1893, it appears that sixteen
counties of Nebraska and one - Shawnee - of Kansas, were
competitors for the prizes offered that year for county
exhibits, and that Burt county won the first prize - six
hundred dollars.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
reports that the war savings stamps sold to Burt county
applicants up to May 1, 1919, according to the record,
amounted to $34,270, and the amount of thrift stamps sold to
$200; but the report explains that "many war saving stamps
and thrift stamps were sold through the post offices in Burt
county in addition to those which were purchased from the
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City."
The bank says that it is unable to verify
the statement that Nebraska war drives totaled thirty-four
million more than the quota assigned to the state. "There
was no quota assigned in the first and second liberty
loan."
On the 2nd of February, 1920, Mr. Leonard
W. Treater, acting state director of the American Red Cross,
gave this magazine the following interesting data in part
supplementary to Mr. Sutherland's statements and in the main
agreeing with them:
" . . . during the war and for the period
ending December 31st, 1918, Nebraska had a total senior
membership of 421,821 members or 32.53 per cent of the total
population. This was the highest percentage of any state in
the union being exceeded only by the territory of Alaska
which had 23,594 members or 36.34 per cent of the
population.
On February 28th, 1919, we, Nebraska, had
230,645 Junior members, or 75.68 per cent of the population,
being surpassed only by the state of Pennsylvania and the
District of Columbia with the added exceptions of the four
states of Arizona, California, Delaware and Nevada, which
claim to be 100 per cent. It is my understanding, however,
that these states attained this percentage by proclamation
of various states having made all school children in those
states members of the Junior Red Cross. There are in the
United States over 11,000,000 Junior members.
During the first war drive Nebraska was
not asked for any definite sum, in fact no definite quota
was assigned this state owing to the fact that Nebraska was
not organized at that time. The state office was not
organized until after the first of July, 1917. In the second
war drive Nebraska was asked for $800,000.
The first war drive was conducted between
June 18th, 1917, and June 25th, 1917; the total gold was
$100,000,000 and the collection's totaled $114,023,640.23;
there was an over subscription of 14 per cent. For campaign
and collection expenses national headquarters appropriated
$278,114.27, and it is estimated that the chapters spent
approximately $500,000 for this purpose., The cost of
conducting the drive therefore was less than .7 of 1 cent
for each dollar collected.
The second drive was conducted between May
7th, 1918, and May 17th, 1918. Again the goal set was
$100,000,000. Up to February 28th, 1919, collections totaled
$169,575,598.84, and there was an over subscription of
nearly 70 per cent. Campaign and collection expenses totaled
a trifle less than $100,000, less than .6 of 1 cent for each
dollar collected.
Of the above war fund drives Nebraska was
asked to contribute $800,000. That actually contributed up
to February 8th, 1919, was $3,206,772.98, or 1.2 per cent of
the grand total collected in the United States. This figures
$2.0473 per capita, or .8 per cent of our state wealth.
Figures as to production are not so
readily available. However, the sum throughout the United
States, with the help of the Junior

members, produced in twenty months, ending February 28th,
1919, was over 371,500,000 relief articles with a value of
$94,000,000, for the benefit of the allied soldiers, sailors
and destitute civilians. These articles include surgical
garments and articles for soldiers and sailors. at which
Nebraska produced over 15,000,000. From these figures you
can readily see that Nebraska did her share," - A. W.

(handwritten below photo - "See C 2376")

W. H. Woods

The historian and guardian of Fort
Atkinson, its relics and site, for many years has been W. H.
Woods, or "Grandad" Woods, as he is affectionately called by
himself as well as the children. Mr. Woods has lived at Fort
Calhoun since 1871. He has given more time than any other
person to study of the local history and to its publicity.
He was asked to give a biographical sketch with this
result:
I was born in Leeds, England, September
28, 1839, third son of William Woods, a locomotive mechanic.
My mother's first known ancestors were among the Saxon
invaders of England. I attended school at Brighton,
Manchester, and Patricoft and studied grammar as far as
pronouns. The doctors ordered me to take a long sea voyage
in 1849, and after nine weeks I reached New Orleans. My
father died of cholera in 1860, and soon after his death I
was selling papers and setting type in a printing office at
Beardstown, Illinois. I was generally known as Bill Woods,
Devil. For, the next ten years I was a wanderer in printing
offices, on a farm, blacking boots in hotels, working in a
livery stable, and many other things.
In 1861 I responded to the three months'
call of President Abraham Lincoln, but my farmer employer
refused to let me go until August, when I bought my time out
and enlisted as a hoof soldier in Company B, Tenth Missouri
Infantry. In September I was detached and after a few weeks
training assigned as acting brigade wagon master and in
charge of $40,000 worth of property and later became company
M. D., driving six mules. Got into the last skirmish on
Corinth Road, Miss., April 8, 1862, and heard the bullets
singing "Oh, what jolly boys we are!"
After this I was sent from Corinth to St.
Louis to inspect hospital service and later to Keokuk for a
month's vacation at government expense. After eighteen
months' education there in chemistry, medicine and college
lectures, trying to make a surgeon of me, I took charge at
the refugee hospital until I was sent to St. Louis and
discharged in August, 1864, glad to be still a private
soldier with $100 extra pay. I was married at Keokuk in
August, 1863, to Miss Margaret McBurney. In 1865-66 I
clerked as a druggist in Pekin, Ill., and later sold the
great Robert G. Ingersoll his cigars and soda water in
Peoria.
I was for two and a half years
superintendent of city missions, including Y. M. C. A.,
secretary of Citizens Relief Association, and one year
International Y. M. C. A. secretary for Illinois. I came to
Omaha as Y. M. C. A. secretary in May, 1870. I was chicken
eater on the Fort Calhoun, Florence and De Soto circuit for
the Methodist Episcopal church in 1871-72.
I began the study of old Fort Atkinson in
1883 to please Governor Furnas and the schools. I am a life
member of the State Historical Society, member of the
International Archeological Society, historian of the
Washington County Pioneer and Old Settlers' Association.
I have had eleven children, of whom two
died in early life and nine are married. This picture was
taken for a book of the noted men of Washington county. They
togged me up and tried to make me look like a gentleman. I
was better looking then than I am now.

Among the Nebraska books recently added
to the Society's library are two anniversary volumes of
Swedish churches - one from the Immanuel Lutheran Church of
Omaha, the other of the Fridhem congregation of Funk. Both
these books are illustrated and both contain a great deal of
good historical matter. It is of great importance that
copies of all books of local history be placed in the
library of the Historical Society. In future years
historians will go direct to this library for information
upon the early period. Nebraska churches which issue
anniversary volumes are deeply interested in having copies
preserved in our library.

8

Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer
Days

BUILDERS OF EARLY NEBRASKA

A Long List of Familar Names Among
Pioneers Who Have Passed on,
Having Done Their Work Well

Addison C. Beach, Weeping Water, Born
in Ashtabula county, Ohio, October 21, 1834, died October
2nd; drove overland from Ohio to Weeping Water in 1866.
J. G. P. Hildebrand, pioneer editor, born
in Keokuk county, Iowa, died in Lincoln, October 8th, where
he had resided for more than twenty-five years, appointed
deputy internal revenue collector for the Lincoln district
in 1913, and held the office until his death.
Mrs. Anna Katherine Wetenkamp, Lincoln,
born in Germany, April 2, 1833, died October 8th; married
John L. Wetenkamp at Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1856; drove
overland to Cass county in 1861; in 1862 removed to
Lancaster county, homesteading on what is now the O street
road six miles from Lincoln.
William Dunn, pioneer of Syracuse 1858,
died October 9th. He was a well known overland freighter
across the plains.
Melville Sperry Wilcox, Burt county; born
in Litchfield, New York, September 20, 1842; died October
9th.
Frank T. Hamilton, born in Omaha in 1861,
died October 11th. He was president of the Omaha Gas
Company, vice president of the Merchants National Bank and
president of the Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway
Company, succeeding Gurdon W. Wattles.
Abraham Towner, veteran of the Civil War,
born in Missouri in 1836, died at his home in Butler county
October 12th.
Josiah Kent, 83 years old, died in Omaha,
October 14th; came by wagon from Philadelphia to Nebraska in
1857.
Mrs. Salina Guss Mettlen, pioneer of Wayne
county, 1861, died October 14th.
Melville S. Cox, Burt county, was born in
Litchfield, New york, September 20, 1842; died at his home
near Tekamah, October 16th; settled near Elk Creek, Douglas
county, in 1867.
Mrs. Margaret Prendergast McDermott,
pioneer of Omaha before 1860; died October 21st.
Rebecca Evans, resident of Nebraska since
1866, died at Liberty, Neb., October 21, at the age of 92
years.
Mrs. Elizabeth Knoell, Fremont, died
October 22; having resided continuously in Dodge county
since 1865.
John B. Colton, owner of Buzzards' Roost
ranch near Eddyville, Neb., died at Grand Island, October
23rd. Hamersley's Army and Navy Register records that he
became captain and then quartermaster of the Eighty-third
Regiment Illinois Volunteer infantry, November 26, 1862 and
resigned November 17, 1863. He was active in the
organization of his regiment and resided at Galesburg, the
place from which he enlisted, from 1836, when he was five
years old until the time of his death, with the exception of
twenty-four years spent in Kansas City. He was on his way
from Galesburg to his ranch in Nebraska when he was stricken
with pneumonia which caused his death at Grand Island. It is
said that his estate amounted to more than a million
dollars, most of which was invested in stock of the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. Colonel Colton, as
he was commonly known, acquired his Nebraska ranch, which
contained about 5,000 acres, thirty-five years ago.
Mrs. P. S. Gibbs died at Craig, November
6th. She and her husband were very early settlers in Burt
county.
Eldora Dell Kunnemann Beezley, pioneer of
Syracuse, 1863, died November 11th.
Mrs. Mary A. Pearman, widow of Major J. W.
Pearman, died at Crawford, Neb., November 9th; married at
Rockport, Mo., February 4th, 1856; came with her husband to
Nebraska City, where he had settled in 1854. The Pearman
family were among the best know early settlers. Major
Pearman bore the title "Squatter Governor" and was a witty
newspaper writer.
Walter Parker, Johnson, Neb., died
November 13; born in England in 1841, came to the United
States in 1866 and the same year to Brownville, after twenty
years moved to Johnson.
Hiram Burch, University Place; first
minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomination ordained in
Nebraska, died November 15th; born in Canada December 11,
1829; arrived in Nebraska City, November 29th, 1855, to
become pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Burch
assisted in establishing the Methodist Seminary at Peru and
in the organization and development of the Methodist college
at York.
Fred Krug, pioneer Omaha resident and
first Nebraska brewer died November 18th. He was born near
Cassel, Germany, in 1833; came to America at the age of
nineteen; arrived in Omaha February 13, 1859, and in that
year established the first brewery of that town. He was a
heavy investor in many Omaha enterprises among which was the
Krug theatre. He is survived by his wife to whom he had been
married over sixty-three years.
Amelia Holland, pioneer of Saunders county
since 1867, died November 19th.
John E. Caselman, Julian, Neb., died
November 21st at the age of eighty-four years; born in
Ontario, Canada, in 1835; came to Nebraska in 1859, settling
first in Nebraska City; enlisted at that place September 9,
1861 in Company C, of the Curtis Horse Nebraska Volunteers,
which was merged into the Fifth Iowa Cavalry June 25, 1862;
honorably discharged at Nashville in 1864, having served
three years and thirty-seven days.
John A. Foster, Omaha, Neb., died November
22; born in the East Indies in 1836; served in the British
army in the Crimean war; enlisted in the Civil War in the
16th New York Provisional Cavalry; He was a cornetist and
played at the inauguration and at the funeral services of
Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Foster also served in the Indian wars
and was a survivor of the Fort Sill massacre. He came to
Nebraska in 1866.

William A. Taylor, pioneer of
Plattsmouth since 1857, died, November 24th.
Mrs. Lucinda Bolejack, Shubert, resident
of Nebraska since 1862, died November 24th.
Mathias Kubicek, pioneer big Blue
precinct, Saline county, since 1856, died November 25th.
Mrs. George Higgins, a resident of Omaha
for fifty-five years, died November 27th.
Charles Wesley Lockwood, Gibbon, died
November 27th, came to Nebraska in 1867.
James Kleihauer, Johnson, died November
27th, born in Hanover, Germany, in 1834, came to America in
1845, settled in Nemaha county in 1865, where he resided
until his death.
Mrs. Lena M. Chalfant, Nebraska City,
daughter of Daniel Gantt, justice of the supreme court of
Nebraska 1873-1878, died December 2nd, resident of Nebraska
since 1860.
Joseph Frank Portrey, Falls City, resident
of Nebraska since 1863; died December 3rd.
Mrs. Sarah Jane Wood, pioneer Dakota City
in 1858, died December 3rd at Woodbine, Iowa.
John K. Watson, Peru, died December 4th,
at the age of 92 years; resided in Nemaha county for 53
years.
Mrs. D. C. Cole, Peru, died in Omaha
December 6th; born in Bureau county, Illinois, March 14,
1843; came to Nebraska in 1857, where she resided until her
death.
Daniel B. Hall, Minden, veteran of the
Civil war and resident of Nebraska since 1866, died December
10th.
William R. Babcock, Jefferson county
pioneer, died December 10th, having lived his entire life of
54 years in the county.
Mrs. Elizabeth E. Goodwin, resident of
Nebraska since 1860, died in Plattsmouth December 11th.
David Silvers Reed, Syracuse, veteran of
the Civil war, died December 11th; came to Nebraska in
1864.
John K. Watson, pioneer Nemaha county
since 1865, died December 11th.
Mrs. Mary a. Teats, a resident of Fremont
since 1857, died in Blair, December 11th.
Mrs. Ella Byrne, 83 years old and a
resident of Omaha since 1866, died December 11th.
Mrs. William Burrow, Humboldt, died
December 12th; born in Russia, January 22, 1814; came to
America in 1858, settling at Brownville.
William John Fowlie, pioneer Bennet since
1866, died December 14th.
Dighton W. Hotaling, pioneer of Johnson
county, 1865, died in Holyoke, Colo., December 19th.
John Nelson, resident of Cedar county for
more than sixty years, died December 21st.
George A. Mayer, Lincoln, died December
22nd; came to Nebraska in 1859, settling at Plattsmouth;
removed to Lancaster county in 1862 where he resided until
his death.
Mrs. Mary D. Hauptman, resident of
Nebraska since 1860, died in Lincoln, December 25th.
James Armstrong, resident of Auburn since
the early sixties, died in San Diego, Calif., December
28th.
Mrs. Henry Halbeck, pioneer Dodge county
since 1865, died October 25th.
Herman Henry Stork, born December 1, 1838,
in Germany, settled at Arlington in 1865; died October
26th.
Johannes Christian Wunner, resident of
Stanton and vicinity for fifty-four years, died October
28th.
Conrad Bauman, pioneer of Sarpy county in
1866, died October 29, in Georgetown, Colo.
James Harrison Cook, born in Otoe county,
September 12, 1865, died November 1; spent his life in
Nebraska until his removal to Spokane, Wash., in 1911.
Richard Whitehead, resident of Lancaster
county since 1867, died November 4; entered employ of the
postoffice October 15, 1884, as mail carrier and at the time
of his death was the oldest carrier in point of service.
Mrs. Anson B. Crabtree, Maywood, Neb.,
died November 5th; moved with her parents to Iowa in 1849,
settled in Cass county, Nebraska in the very early
fifties.
Mrs. Andres Everett, Lyons, Neb., who
settled in the Logan valley in 1867, died November 6th.

A War Program

The program at the annual meeting of
the Historical Society for 1920 was designed to place in our
records some of the first hand material upon Nebraska's part
in the World War while the actors were living and the facts
fresh in their minds. The program follows:

Demobilization and Return to Peace
....... Governor S. R. McKelvie

The Nebraska Fuel Administration
.......... John L. Kennedy, Omaha

The Nebraska National Guard ........ Col.
P. L. Hall, Jr., Greenwood

The Nebraska State Council of Defense
........ R. M. Joyce, Lincoln

The History of Burt County in the World
War ...............................